The James Dyson Award announces its 2021 Global Winners – Here’s a look at the winning designs

Posted on 17/11/2021 by Sarang Sheth

On a mission to locate, evaluate, and celebrate great young minds and their potentially life-changing ideas, the James Dyson Award is held every year, seeing thousands of entries from budding designers and design engineers from around the world. Just this year alone, the international award program witnessed participants from 28 countries, of which a jury panel of 15 Dyson engineers selected 20 National Award Winners to proceed to the final stage of the competition.

Today, on the 17th of November, the awards program announced the winners of its 3 awards – the International Award, the Sustainability Award, and the newly introduced Medical Award. The winners were reviewed and hand-picked by Sir James Dyson himself, and will now receive £30,000 to help develop their ideas into tangible, life-impacting designs.

Click Here to view all the James Dyson Award entries for 2021.

HOPES – International Winner

HOPES (short for Home Eye Pressure E-skin Sensor) is a wearable biomedical device that allows pain-free, low-cost, at-home intraocular pressure (IOP) testing for patients suffering from glaucoma. “It turns out that IOP is the clinician’s single metric to assess glaucoma”, mentioned the designers behind HOPES, who were motivated after one of the team members’ fathers was diagnosed with glaucoma back in 2019. Regular monitoring of IOP fluctuation is critical to help determine long-term treatment goals, although at-home IOP testing still remains faulty at best, and inaccurate compared to the Goldmann applanation tonometry method, which still remains the clinical standard for testing intraocular pressure. The HOPES is a finger-glove with a high-density pressure sensor array embedded at the tip, connected to a smartwatch that sits around the wrist.

Using the device is as simple as running the HOPES app and applying pressure on the center of the eyelid with the fingertip. The wearable then lets you know when the test is complete, and accurately calculates the user’s intraocular pressure while comprehensively recording all the test results over the previous days and weeks. The device comes with a one-size-fits-all design, is pain-free, user-friendly, and costs 10x lesser than going to a physician. The design team behind HOPES is currently cooperating with clinicians at the National University Hospital in Singapore to collect patients’ eye pressure data to train their machine learning models They’re also simultaneously optimizing performance and improving on the design and form factor of the HOPES device. Watch the entire video here.

Plastic Scanner – Sustainability Winner

While the idea of being able to scan and identify a piece of plastic doesn’t sound particularly ground-breaking to the average consumer, it could be potentially ground-breaking for plastics recycling facilities, allowing them to swiftly identify and sort out different types of plastics while recycling or repurposing them. Aimed at helping reduce plastic pollution drastically (by allowing them to be efficiently recycled), the Plastic Scanner is an open-source gadget by designer Jerry de Vos of TU Delft, Netherlands. Having spent time as a core team member of Precious Plastic, Jerry quickly learned what a hassle it was to correctly identify plastics while recycling them. “Large factories in Europe are able to sort plastics based on infrared reflection”, de Vos mentioned. “It became my personal mission to make similar technology available for any recycler around the world.”

The Plastic Scanner is a nifty handheld device with an open-source design that can easily be built and modified by any plastics recycling facility, especially in low and middle-income countries. The device uses a discreet infrared spectroscope to identify plastics. It isn’t as accurate as the infrared techniques used by state-of-the-art spectroscopes, but it’s a low-cost solution that’s accurate enough at identifying most common plastics. Currently, Jerry is assembling a team of friends and colleagues to create new prototypes and to do pilot projects in both industry- and low resource settings. Ultimately the goal is to build DIY kit versions of the Plastic Scanner and build out a database of open-source documents and schematics that make it easy for others to build and contribute to the project. Watch the entire video here.

REACT – Medical Winner

A Medical Winner in the James Dyson Award, the REACT is a new system for stopping bleeding from a knife wound. The REACT system uses a rapid, inflatable Tamponade device that is inserted into the stab wound. The automated inflation of this Tamponade provides internal pressure directly to the bleeding site, controlling bleeding faster than current methods by essentially ‘plugging’ the wound opening. The most common cause of death in a knife wound is blood loss. It takes only 5 minutes to bleed to death, which isn’t enough time for even an ambulance to arrive at the location in most cities. The police are often the first trained responders at the scene, but they do not have access to the tools required to prevent blood loss. The hope is that REACT will change this reality.

The most common training advice to first responders is that if the impaled object is still within the body, to absolutely leave it be. This is because the object is applying internal pressure to the wound site whilst also filling the cavity, preventing internal bleeding. The REACT works on the same principle, effective even when someone is bleeding out. The implantable medical-grade silicon Balloon Tamponade is inserted into the wound tract by a first responder, and pressure sensors within the REACT device help determine how much to inflate the tamponade to provide the right amount of pressure to stop the bleeding. The simple application and automated inflation procedure of the REACT system makes it a game-changer for first responders. The Tamponade can be installed and can stop hemorrhaging in under a minute, saving hundreds of lives a year. It’s suitable for large cavities like the abdomen too, and it is also easy to remove, giving the patient the best chance at reconstructive surgery. Designer Joseph Bentley of Loughborough University has filed a patent on the REACT system, with hopes that it will eventually be developed into a product that saves hundreds of lives every year.

Click Here to view all the James Dyson Award entries for 2021.

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Dyson Award-winning tower-cooler sports a monolithic design and cools rooms using evaporation

Posted on 11/10/2021 by Sarang Sheth

Evaporative cooling isn’t new. We humans have been using a similar mechanism for millions of years to stay cool – perspiration. The way evaporative cooling works is pretty simple. Thermal energy in the air causes water to evaporate into vapor. That reaction consumes a certain amount of thermal energy, making the air around it cooler… just like you sweat to feel cooler. The VAYU is a tower-shaped evaporative cooler designed by Sumeet Singh and Jatin Bamane, relying on an energy-efficient way to keep rooms cool in the hot Indian summers.

The James Dyson National Award-winning VAYU cooler sports a slick, tower-shaped monolithic design (fitting well in with Dyson’s form language). The cooler comes with a water tank on the inside, and a fan that operates at 5-speed settings. It works much quieter than a traditional air-conditioner and consumes a fraction of the energy too. Water is poured into the tank using an inlet at the top, and an impeller and DC brushless motor help distribute the cool air throughout the room (while purifying it by passing it through a filter too). An angled air deflector rotates up to 250° to help distribute cool air all around the room, quite like the swinging vents on an air-conditioner would. Caster wheels on the base of the VAYU make it easy to wheel around the house too, giving it an element of in-house portability.

Even though the VAYU is currently just a concept, designers Sumeet and Jatin are working on building a functioning prototype, along with an app and a remote to control the cooler’s functions. The app will allow users to control the fan’s speed, switch between Eco and Night modes, toggle the deflector’s rotation, and even see the VAYU’s filter lifespan + order new filters when the old ones need replacing.

A National Winner of the James Dyson Award, VAYU now progresses to the international round of the award program, with the results being announced on October 13th.

Designers: Sumeet Singh & Jatin Bamane

This concrete bench collects rainwater for plants that are a part of the seating!

Posted on 06/10/2021 by Chi Thukral

Concrete jungle is not just something Alicia Keys sang once, cities are becoming more paved with every passing day leaving scarce patches of greenery. Having concrete structures everywhere is not appealing to the eye but at the same time makes it harder for cities to use rainwater because they don’t have surfaces to absorb it. This makes it harder for them to maintain natural public spaces and green starts turning to gray. To solve this problem, Barbara Standaert made the Waterbench – it is exactly what you think. The design combines a bench, a rainwater barrel, and a planter into one to restore some greenery into the urban landscape.

Rainwater is used in public spaces to create self-sufficient green. The permanent water supply always guarantees a dry seat, even in rainy weather, requires hardly any maintenance, and ensures a permanent green touch in the city.

The rainwater naturally seeps through the porous concrete cover and is collected in a water-tight concrete reservoir where the plants find their water and food. The water is naturally absorbed and transported to the plants by a nylon cord. The Waterbench Rainwater buffer + water reservoir for plants Cover made of permeable concrete Collection trough in architectonic concrete water reservoir: +/- 280 liters.

Length 250 cm, Width 174 cm, Height 45 cm Weight: +/- 1,300 kg for the collection tray, +/- 1,100 kg for the cover. It is available in grey, other shades possible upon request. Overflow, allowing water to escape if the tank is full. The element rests on rubber stands, allowing excess water to run off. Another advantage of the Waterbench is the option to ‘plant’ the bench with little prior effort, in line with the particular needs of the environment.

Starting with the design question “How can we restore natural processes and give back some green to our urbanized landscape?” – I started researching what is being done today to direct rainwater to nature. Porous rainwater pipes were one example. The material fascinated me. I brought it to the surface to show what it did to the audience. After this, the function to combine the material and water storage with greenery was quickly made. During my studies I made the prototype all by myself. I carved out the some mold by using my football shoes. I filled the mold in cooperation with a concrete manufacturer and transported the (way too heavy) concrete block in a rented van. One day before the jury, I still had to apply the porous top layer… After I graduated I found a manufacturer who is now producing the market suitable Waterbench.

Designer: Barbara Standaert

Your next climbing shoe could be completely 3D-printed according to this Dyson Award-winning footwear company

Posted on 27/09/2021 by Sarang Sheth

Now I’m not much of a climber (I just about take the stairs), so I’ll defer to the experts at Athos who highlight how problematic current climbing shoes are. Designed specifically for being able to grip onto rocks, ledges, and the tiniest of cracks in a very vertical surface, climbing shoes are made for traction, not comfort, which is why a lot of climbers end up with foot aches and injuries after wearing climbing shoes for too long. When climbers buy shoes, they always look for the tightest fit (for better performance), often wearing shoes that are up to 2 or even sometimes 4 sizes smaller than their actual size, resulting in bruised or sometimes even disfigured feet in the long run… Athos’ solution to this? 3D printing shoes that are designed to perfectly fit your feet.

Started as a project at Spain’s ELISAVA institute, the designers were searching for innovative applications of additive manufacturing. Being avid climbers, their eureka moment came when they realized that additive manufacturing (or AM for short) could easily help create the perfect climbing shoe. By using AM technology, the designers were able to custom-build out each shoe considering inputs like the wearer’s foot shape, needs, and type of performance.

The Athos shoes are made from two broad materials – a flexible, foot-hugging body made from 3D-printed TPU, and a two-part outsole crafted from vulcanized rubber. The TPU acts almost as a second skin, flexing with your foot’s movements while staying breathable (thanks to a unique perforated design), while the vulcanized rubber gives the shoes their signature traction and grip, allowing you to easily hold onto small ledges and rocks while you climb. Each shoe is custom-made to fit the wearer, making them unique. The additive manufacturing technique also helps dramatically reduce the number of processes and materials by more than 50%.

The Athos workflow has 4 steps: 1. Feetscan of the user, done within the Athos app. 2. Personalization and customization: type of shape, style of climbing, color, name, etc. 3. Printing out the shoe’s body, post-processing, and assembling parts. 4. Delivery to the user.

The shoes are on track to be prototyped and tested out by 10 professional climbers in January 2022. If everything goes according to plan, Athos hopes to secure SEED funding by March and start building climbing shoes for regular consumers across Spain by the end of next year.

A National Winner of the James Dyson Award, Athos now progresses to the international round of the award program, with the results being announced on October 13th.

Designers: Team Athos

This Dyson Award-winning injection-accessory may look terrifying, but it helps reduce your pain response while taking a jab

Posted on 11/09/2021 by Sarang Sheth

Pinsoft James Dyson Award Winning Attachment for Needle Phobia

While its appearance could easily be mistaken for a fancy meat tenderizer, the James Dyson National Award-winning Pinsoft is an injection attachment that helps people deal with Trypanophobia or a fear of needles.

Its terrifying appearance aside, the Pinsoft sits ‘around’ an injection, and its multiple round-tipped prongs helps stimulate and ‘confuse’ your skin as the needle makes its way through. The gentle stimulation caused by the prongs distracts your brain, since it can’t immediately tell the difference between the prongs touching your skin and the needle piercing your skin. By the time you realize what’s happened, you’re done with your shot!

Pinsoft James Dyson Award Winning Attachment for Needle Phobia

Pinsoft stimulates the area near the puncture. A set of blunt round-tip prongs retract back into the Pinsoft as you push down on the skin to administer the injection. “As the needle is inserted, they put pressure on the proximal area and there is a feeling of relief from the prick”, say designers Sofia, Laura, and Juan, who secured the James Dyson National Award in Spain. Pinsoft now progresses to the international leg of the award program, with the results being announced on October 13th.

Designers: Sofía Aparicio Ródenas, Laura Martinavarro & Juan Carlos Espert

Pinsoft James Dyson Award Winning Attachment for Needle Phobia

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The Roadfix is a Dyson Award-winning trolley that fills potholes (and turns them into advertisements)

Posted on 10/09/2021 by Sarang Sheth

Roadfix fills potholes with concrete and advertisements

Have you ever looked at a pothole on the road and thought, “Hey, that would be a good place for an ad”? Me neither… but this Dyson Award-winning trolley turns bad roadways into an opportunity for brand marketing.

I can’t really tell if the Roadfix is dystopic or an incredible idea to get brands more involved in civic maintenance. Either way, the device helps fix holes and cracks in old or badly made roads/pavements, and also provides a neat spot for a company to add their logo… let me explain.

Roadfix fills potholes with concrete and advertisements

Functioning as a cross between a paint roller and a cookie cutter, the Roadfix is a push-operated trolley-shaped device that easily fills in potholes with concrete. While doing so, it also stamps out a company’s logo on the fresh concrete, acting as a free bit of branding while letting pedestrians know that the brand is involved in maintaining its city.

The way the Roadfix works is simple. Inside the Roadfix’s container, water and cement powder are mixed together using a whisk driven by the electric motor inside the rear wheel. Once the mixture is ready, the operator rotates the box forward using the dedicated button on the handle, while opening the lid with the other button to release the concrete from the bottom effectively filling the pothole. Simultaneously, a custom-made roller with a company’s branding/logo will roll on the wet concrete, compacting it while also leaving behind an impression of the logo, like a stamp.

Roadfix fills potholes with concrete and advertisements

The idea for the Roadfix came to a bunch of Italian designers as the best way to maintain roadways by enticing large companies and institutions with the prospect of free branding. While civic maintenance is usually up to the local municipality, the Roadfix privatizes it in a way, allowing advertising companies and private companies to involve themselves in repairing and maintaining a city’s infrastructure. While this does set a precedent that allows capitalism to literally cement itself into our societies, it really helps private entities maintain their neighborhoods without having to deal with the slow-moving nature of bureaucratic institutions like a city municipality. In this instance, advertising companies will partner with the municipalities and get Roadfix trollies through them. Using this as just one of their many offerings (like billboards, posters, social reach), ad companies can then reach out to businesses to help promote them.

Roadfix fills potholes with concrete and advertisements

Domino’s Pizza tried something similar in Texas back in 2018, partnering with CP+B (an ad agency) over the campaign. Claiming that bad and bumpy roads were ultimately affecting the quality of their pizza as they were being delivered, Domino’s arranged for a maintenance crew to fill major potholes on roads and even had the filled holes spray-painted with the company’s branding. The Roadfix aims at turning that one-off campaign into a more regular occurrence. This way, private entities, and ad agencies are incentivized to be much more invested in keeping their roads and pavements pothole-free, while the city municipality can rest assured knowing that the city’s infrastructure is being maintained.

A National Winner of the James Dyson Award, Roadfix now progresses to the international leg of the award program, with the results being announced on October 13th.

Designers: Alessio Puleo, Silvana Migliozzi & Luca Grosso

Roadfix fills potholes with concrete and advertisements

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